


Love on Wheels

by flightofdeath



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:56:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightofdeath/pseuds/flightofdeath
Summary: Remus was only trying to get through uni. He didn't expect to find love, and he certainly didn't expect it to come on wheels.





	Love on Wheels

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little one-shot of a roller skating fic that's been in my head for a while. I might continue it later, but for now, I'll leave it be. Thanks for reading xx

_“A single act of courage is often the tipping point for extraordinary change.”_

_Andy Stanley_

* * *

 

Remus sat in another cafe, clutching his now-cold cup of tea. His notebook sat in front of him, open to the analysis questions for his most recent psychology lab. Despite the sun shining, he felt gray. Sighing deeply, he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

_Another day of no work._

He closed his notebook with unusual force and stood up to return the mug. He tucked his pens into his pocket and exited the cafe quietly.

As soon as his foot hit the pavement outside, a bright figure sped past him. Mouth agape, Remus watched as a colorful figure blazed down the sidewalk on pastel pink roller skates. Their hair waved in the wind and Remus couldn’t help but smile at their knee-high rainbow striped socks. Shaking his head, Remus turned and walked in the opposite direction, away from the rainbow skater.

But somehow, Remus couldn’t get them out of his head. He returned to his flat and flopped on the bed. Suddenly, Remus was struck by a pang of loneliness. He had lived alone for years, but it had never occurred to him to feel _lonely_ . He stayed busy studying and going to classes, working towards becoming a therapist with a focus for LGBTQ+ teens. _Just over a year left,_ he reminded himself. Draping an arm over his eyes, Remus fell into a tumultuous sleep.

* * *

 

_Shit, shit, shit._

Remus awoke with a painful shock.

_I’m late, I’m late, I’m late, late, late, late._

He leapt off the bed. Scrabbling for his phone and keys, he raced to jam his feet into the nearest shoes and ran out the door.

_I don’t have a notebook, I don’t have pens. At the very least, I can record the audio on my phone and get the presentation later. Just as long as I get there._

Remus was so focused on his destination that he didn’t pay attention as he ran. Before he knew quite what happened, he was on the ground.

“Ow,” he muttered. Looking up, he saw that he wasn’t the only one on the ground. Across from him was easily the most gorgeous person he’d ever seen - wearing a pair of familiar pastel pink skates. “He- oh.” Remus was suddenly struck speechless by their sleek black hair, defined facial structure, and their mirror-gray eyes.

“A-are you okay?” The gorgeous stranger looked absolutely mortified as they stood up. They offered a hand to Remus. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Remus said, accepting the stranger’s hand.

“You’re sure? I didn’t accidentally break anything of yours?”

“Really, I am.” Remus brushed off his jumper. “Are you?”

“I’m fine,” they said. “I take spills like this all the time, it’s just normally not into another person.”

“You’ve been skating for a long time, then?”

“I started a couple years ago when I started uni to save money on transportation.”

“That’s cool...erm, I’ve just realized I don’t even know your name.”

“Sirius,” the stranger said, “they/them pronouns. Yours?”

“Remus, he/him. Nice to finally meet you, Sirius,” Remus said with a smile, sticking out his hand.

“Likewise,” Sirius said, shaking Remus’ hand, wearing a slight smirk. “Well, I still feel bad for knocking you over. Can I take you out for a drink?”

“It’s ten in the morning, Sirius,” Remus said, laughing.

Sirius shrugged. “I guess,” they said. “We could go for a coffee, if you prefer. My treat.”

_Screw the lecture,_ Remus thought. “I’ll take you up on the coffee, then. But only if you skate slow enough for me to keep up.”

“Of course,” Sirius said with a wink. Remus felt butterflies flutter in his gut: the first formings of...something.

The coffeeshop happened to be right around the corner, thankfully. Remus had never been there before, which was rare. It was well-lit, with quiet music playing. It seemed to almost be designed around the cafe aesthetic.

“Hey Sirius,” the cashier said with a wave. “How’s it going?”

“Not too terribly. James, this is Remus. I’ve accidentally bodyslammed him, so I’m bringing him here for a coffee and whatever else he wants.”

James nodded. “What can I get you? All on the house, of course. Sirius doesn’t normally hit people, but when they do, they always buy the person a drink. You’re cuter than most of them though. Good hit, Sirius!”

“James,” Sirius groaned. “Just get the man his coffee.”

“Alright, alright,” James said, waving his hand. “What can I get you?”

“Do you have any tea?” Remus asked, rubbing his neck apologetically.

“I take you to a coffeeshop and you try and order _tea,_ ” Sirius complained. “ _Tea_.”

James chuckled. “Sorry, mate. We do only have coffee. Question though. Why tea over coffee?”

“I just don’t like the taste of coffee,” Remus shrugged, ignoring Sirius gasping behind him. “I like the caffeine, just not the taste.”

“Well, I’ve got just the thing. Sit down with Sirius, and I’ll get you two your drinks.” With that, James turned to the equipment behind him. Sirius tugged Remus’ arm and pulled him to a wooden table next to the window. They sat across from him and planted their elbows on the table.

“So,” Remus said, not sure how to start. “Why did you start skating?”

Sirius stuck out their skates from under the table. “I told you, to save money on transport during uni.”

“Okay yeah, but why skating? You could have picked biking, skateboarding, even running. Why skating?”

Sirius thought for a moment. “How much time do you have?” they asked.

“As much time as you need,” Remus said with a wink.

Sirius felt their knees go weak. They nodded, not trusting themself to speak.

It was that exact moment that James came by their table with two massive mugs. “Two house specials.”

“Ah, thanks, Jamie-boy,” Sirius said, accepting their mug with two hands.

“And yours, Remus,” James said, delivering the second mug with a flourish and a bow.

“Unnecessary,” Sirius muttered between sips.

“Thanks, James,” Remus said gratefully, accepting the mug. He took a sip and his eyes widened in shock. “This is absolutely amazing! How did he make this?” He looked at Sirius, who was attempting to hide their laughter in their coffee.

“It’s an absolutely blasphemous amount of cream and sugar, plus a little bit of flavoring to mask the coffee taste,” Sirius explained through their laughter. “I order the same thing.”

Once their laughter had calmed down, Remus wrapped his hands around the mug. As Sirius did the same, Remus felt a tugging in his gut as he realized their nails were painted the same pastel pink as their skates.

“So, Remus, you wanted to know why I skate?” Sirius held steady eye contact.

“Yes,” Remus replied, holding their eyes.

With a sudden burst of energy, they sprang from their seat. “Well then you better drink that fast, because you’re coming with me.” They skated to the back of the cafe as Remus drank his coffee as quickly as he could. They returned after a minute with a duffel for a football team Remus didn’t recognize.

“Can you run?” Sirius asked.

“Erm, decently enough,” Remus responded, still vaguely confused.

“Then let’s go,” Sirius said, holding out a hand to Remus. Without thinking, Remus took their hand, and Sirius sped off.

They seemed to still be going slower than normal, but Remus was still running to keep up with them. Sirius managed to still skate with the duffel slung over one of their shoulders. The two went along for a couple blocks before Sirius brought them to a halt in the middle of a skate park. Sirius unceremoniously dragged Remus over to a nearby bench and pushed him down.

“You still want to know why I skate?” Their gray eyes seemed to pierce Remus’.

Remus held Sirius’ eyes unflinchingly. “Well, I’ve come this far, haven’t I?”

They grinned and tossed the duffel bag at Remus. “Lace up, then.”

“Wait, wait, what?” Remus tore at the zipper. Inside the duffel was a pair of poppy red skates. “You can’t be serious. I haven’t ever skated before.”

“I’m always Sirius,” crowed Sirius. “And you wanted to know _why_ I skate. The only way for you to find out is for you to try yourself.

“Okay,” said Remus cautiously, “but whose skates are these? How do you know they’re my size?”

Sirius shrugged. “The skates are Jamie’s. You two are about the same height, so I figured you’d be about the same size shoe.”

“Oh, hell,” breathed Remus.

“Come on,” said Sirius, practically bouncing in their skates. “Lace up and let’s get a move on.”

Remus didn’t move.

“Remuuuus,” whined Sirius.

“Sirius,” Remus said suddenly, looking up, “I have no idea how to ‘lace up’.” He bit his lip, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Without hesitation, Sirius sat down hard next to him and began unlacing their skates. “It’s really quite easy. They’re laced already over the top of your foot, you just have to do it up through the eyelets.” Remus didn’t respond, but slipped his feet into the skates, attempting to mirror Sirius’ actions. “Now,” said Sirius, catching Remus’ eye, “the secret here is that you don’t just criss-cross your laces and happen to pass by the eyelets. You have to go above the eyelet and loop it around.” Sirius demonstrated slowly on their left skate, then tied the second at the same time as Remus.

Once the two had skates on, Sirius slowly helped Remus over to the largest flat area. Remus was absolutely terrified.

“Oh, okay, you’ll just start me straight off on concrete, that’s fine,” muttered Remus.

“It’s okay,” said Sirius, laughing. They maneuvered him into the center of the outdoor rink. There’s a wall that goes around the concrete oval, but it was out of reach. “Are you stable?”

“Not...really,” admitted Remus, wobbling slightly. “I’m tall to begin with; this seems a little out of hand.”

“Now all you have to do...is push forward,” Sirius said, taking Remus’ arm. Remus’ lanky frame towered over Sirius, despite the fact that they were not _actually_ that short.

Remus tried to push forward and promptly lost his balance, arms pinwheeling through the air as he fell onto Sirius. To their credit, they managed to catch most of his weight, but it sent both of them to the ground, laughing.

“You make it look so simple,” Remus laughed. “How?”

“A lot of practice and a lot of falls,” Sirius said, choking back laughter as well. “Come on, come on, back up again.”

After several minutes and a couple more falls interlaced with laughter, the two were back on their skates.

“I feel like this might be a bad plan,” Remus said, trying to keep a straight face.

“Okay, so let’s do this,” Sirius said, and without another word, grabbed Remus’ hands and skating.

Remus cried out with the sudden motion, swaying on his skates as he was dragged forward.

“Come on, all you have to do is keep your balance!” Sirius skated backwards, keeping their grip on Remus.

“How fast are you planning on going?” Remus cried, laughing despite the nervous note in his voice.

“This isn’t even that fast,” Sirius said as they laughed maniacally. “ _THIS_ is fast!” And with that, they took off, pulling Remus behind them. Remus let out a short high-pitched scream. They went around the rink, Sirius pulling them faster and faster. And suddenly, they were gone: Remus was left, arms outspread, trying to balance on his own. An incredulous laugh tore itself from his throat, and he kept pushing forward, high on the rush of the wind in his face until a wrong push sent him crashing to the ground.

Sirius skated over to him. Remus had a grin that just wouldn’t go away. Sirius looked down, a smile playing across their face. “See why I skate now?”

“Absolutely,” Remus said, still grinning idiotically. “This is the best rush I’ve ever had in my life.”

“It worked for me too,” Sirius admitted, running a hand through their tangled hair. Helping Remus as he struggled back to his skates, the two skated back to the bench, Sirius fluid as always, Remus wobbling only slightly. They sat, and Remus extended his legs to further inspect the skates, while Sirius sat comfortably with their legs crossed. “It did wonders for my figure.”

“Not like you needed it, I’m sure,” muttered Remus. Sirius blushed slightly, ducking their head.

“In all reality, I had just escaped an abusive home and moved in with Jamie. I should have been the happiest person, and yet...I just wasn’t. I couldn’t. No reason why.”

“It’s not like that,” Remus murmured. “You are completely valid, and you don’t have to have a reason to feel one way or another. That’s not how mental illnesses work and that’s not how people work.”

Sirius paused to smile again. “Somehow, Jamie figured out that I needed something. I really don’t know how he figured it out, but he bought me my first pair of skates.”

“He must really love you,” Remus said, with a sinking feeling in his gut.

“He does. We’re brothers,” Sirius said simply. “But…” they continued, “recently I’ve been looking for something else.”

Remus looked up, raw hope shining in his eyes. “You have?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, looking into Remus’ eyes. “Maybe it’s someone.” Without looking away, Sirius reached over to twine their fingers with Remus’.

Remus turned his hand over so they could lace their fingers together. Sirius slid on the bench to press themself into Remus and let their head fall onto his shoulder.

* * *

  _One month later._

With a loud whoop, two bright figures sped past the coffeeshop into the skate park. A pair of pastel pink skates dropped into the bowl while a pair of seafoam green skates stood, one toe stop on the ground.

Sirius skated around the bowl, pumping up and down to gain speed. They flipped several times, skating backwards as easily as they skated forward. After a couple minutes, they jumped out and landed next to Remus.

“Your turn,” they said, nudging Remus with their elbow.

With a mock salute, Remus fell backwards into the bowl, laughing maniacally at Sirius’ shocked expression. His curls bounced with the motion as he made his way around the bowl, gaining speed as he skated around the bowl. Eventually, he hopped out, landing hard next to Sirius.

“You’re getting better at that,” Sirius said, looping their arm into Remus’.

“Only with help,” Remus replied, leaning down to peck their lips.

Sirius grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. “Come on, then.”

And with that, the two jumped back into the bowl.

 


End file.
